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Coke & Ipod- Two Iconic Brands, One song for both ads

June 23, 2009

Ok, please tell me what’s going on here. Two of our planets biggest, most iconic brands have used the same music track ‘Jerk it’ by The Caesars within a 5 year timespan. Apples Ipod shuffle ad was first and now Cokes ‘Brrrrrr’ ad use the same track. I just don’t get it.

The Apple ad was ground-breaking, it broke new music, it was right on brand and it generated interest in the track and the band. When a brand gets it right, that’s the power of music and branding. The skill in blending music into a brand is finding a track that the audience will associate with themselves. It’s an art form to find something that will make the brand a trendsetter of sorts, a leader and a visionary for the tribe.

In my view, Coke have always been leaders in new ideas, new sounds, new colours and imagery. They have painted the world with colour and music for generations. It suprises me why they would approve a track ( albeit a very cool track) that has already been worn and used in a brand sense.

Think about movies and the way songs (when they get it so right) fuse into your brain and are always associated with that scene, actor, film. I challenge any music director to try and use Queens ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in a different context to Waynes World or Elton Johns ‘Tiny Dancer’ in a way that betters the bus scene in Almost Famous.

The point here is that music and sound is real estate that can be owned by brands rarely twice. Brands don’t share logos or secret herbs and spices, so why share sound?

What other ‘snap’ examples of brands using the same song can you recall?